Pete Robinson, strategic consultant, and Sian Rider, head of Brand & Marketing at KidsKnowBest, examine how franchise brands are adapting to fragmentation.

“I’ve been tracking kids’ media habits for over 15 years,” explained Pete. “During that time, YouTube has grown from a place of discovering UGC to a media monolith, and social networks have moved from social messaging platforms to content streams.”

Netfiles, now in its fifth year, is the company’s study benchmarking the performance of over 300 shows and movies in the media markets. It tracks how 0-16 year-olds consume their favourite brands across platforms.

In Toy World’s September issue, Pete spoke about how family media habits have changed significantly from consistent programmes on TV but now it varies due to algorithms and multiple viewing platforms. He explained the issues this causes for brand marketing and how to navigate the new media landscape.

Sian talked about how brands are thinking about the fragmentation of media in terms of engaging their audiences.

She said: “We created the bridge model to highlight the significance of a dialogue between the brand and its audience. For brands to thrive in this constantly evolving media landscape, it’s crucial to honour their heritage while remaining relevant to the modern consumer. By leveraging fans, brands can maintain a consistent tone and foster meaningful interactions with their audience. A great example of this is The Barbie Movie.”

Later in the feature, Sian also spoke about how KidsKnowBest listens and learns from kids and how brands can help children and parents build narrative and play around the shows they love.

For the full feature, click here.